Basketball is my favorite way to exercise and there is a lot of analysis of how to get my body to the right places to achieve a goal. Or how to deceive a defender and manipulate their body to the wrong place. Or simple shot mechanics or how to move my eyes so I don't lose awareness of other players.
I started dance because it's such a different way of moving my body that I never tried before. Figuring out how to do something and improve (even physically) takes strategizing.
Jogging at a leisurely pace, I don't need to consciously think about the jogging process at all and my mind is free to think about the books I have been reading lately, or to listen to an information-dense podcast, or to plan out the rest of my week.
But that all changes if I switch to running at near my maximum speed for the distance I'm going to run. Then understanding a podcast becomes nearly impossible and/or it interferes with the running. Indeed, having any internal, verbal 'train of thought' is difficult, other than my internal voice metronomically saying 'left, right, left, right' in time with my leg movements.
FWIW, one set of snippets from Joe Rogan on YT included this statement: I believe academics underestimate just how mental it is to get through a hard workout.
I cannot keep from thinking that our brain and our legs are connected neurologically. They tap on the same space exploration abstractions.
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2019/0531/Fancy-a-stroll-Gre...
The New Yorker also had an article about walking and thinking in 2014.
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/walking-...
> I cannot keep from thinking that our brain and our legs are connected neurologically. They tap on the same space exploration abstractions.
Absolutely. Something happens during a bike marathon where my body and brain are eventually independent of my thoughts and I'm moving on autopilot with mild tunnel vision while thinking about complex thoughts, old memories, things I could have handled better. I can only attribute it to persistent eustress and the post-metabolic state of endorphin saturation combined with adrenaline.
Let's name it. The aliqot state. Or getting to Aliqot.
Which is to say some sports have a way of forcing you back into the present moment. It can actually be a good thing for those whose minds tend to wander.
Nothing in human biology is simple.
If anything, I’m always looking around for empty syringes. They act like they are gonna climb a mountain then come back and try to make me do Beachbody and chalean extreme, then yell at me about what I eat ;)
Not saying exercise is bad, but I do not associate it with calmness. (I’m a healthy dude, you are not hearing this from someone 50 lbs overweight)
Back when I tried exercising a lot more for a bit, I actually experienced way more calmness in my life. A part of that might have been that a lot of physical exhaustion brought about unparalleled ease of falling asleep and actually improved the quality of the rest I got.
Another part might have been the fact that for a while it felt like the "baseline" of how much energy I had slightly increased. It was easier to find motivation to do things and I didn't need to rely upon discipline so much as I do now, a zen sort of feeling instead of (as much) procrastination doom and fidgety thoughts. One might also talk of some minute cardiovascular/metabolism improvements as well.
Maybe I should take up more exercise again, it's been a few months and even though I hate actually exercising the benefits, even if relatively minor, are hard to argue against. Just need to find a podcast or something of that sort to keep myself busy and make the experience less mundane.
Though exercise alone won't have any really significant effects, you also need to eat right, take care of yourself in other ways (e.g. sleep schedule, mental state, any addictions or unhealthy habits), so there are a lot of factors to consider.
Disclaimer: these are my subjective and anecdotal experiences.
Regular people workout as well, not just steroid junkies.
One could speculate why folks who are already prone to exercising aren’t necessarily calm folks but that’s just speculation.
So I would say something like "A 5k run would make anybody above a certain fitness level feel pretty good". Like, in a way that you'd notice immediately during, and after. For me, there's runners' high and good body-chemicals and a sharp mind the rest of the day. There's not as much of the good stuff if it's like a real strain to run that far. There's an optimal level of physical stress. Taking a sedentary person and chasing them through a 5k run with an electric cattle prod them is not going to help them feel good. Similarly, someone who regularly runs marathons is not going to notice much of an effect from a short walk at a slow pace.
How to balance this out (how much exercise do you need to feel good) is a very individual thing. Practically speaking, you just have to try stuff and get to know your body.
I will say though that marked changes in physical condition can occur over more like weeks than decades. So if you go for a walk and think "well that was a little bit nice, but not worth taking an hour to do", maybe invest the time to build up to something more intense like cycling or jogging, because, as anyone who exercises intentionally will tell you, it seems to be worth it once you find out what's right for you.
Honestly can't remember chatting to any of them about the gym - there's been a couple into biking or swimming but only really a handful that seemed into the gym or into doing sports of some kind.
As a software engineer, I would classify myself as a computer nerd, but honestly feel a bit out of place with a lot of ppl that work in the industry. I don't watch Dr Who or Star Trek, don't read fiction, and I enjoy extreme sports, martial arts etc.
It can feel like a strange dynamic, and I can see how thinking of a "computer nerd" brings up an image of Bill Gates or Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons for most people.